Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz crowned Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as its new president. The way Shahbaz Sharif was ‘elected’ the party president at its general council meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday does not exhibit democratic norms in the party.

He was ‘elected’ the president unopposed. But his speech on the occasion hardly reinforced the narratives of brother Nawaz Sharif and niece Maryam Nawaz.

His speech disappointed Nawaz Sharif so much that he in his speech said that “some people on the stage may not clap on his comment but ….”. It did not move Shahbaz Sharif. He did not hide his grin on his face for becoming the full-time president of the party.

While on the other hand, Nawaz Sharif does not hide his scorn for the judicial system, and in his every breath, he vehemently criticises the verdict that disqualified him. His daughter Maryam Nawaz also takes his line. Who else stands by Nawaz Sharif in his anti-judges’ chorus? Maryam Nawaz’s chosen comrades Danyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry used to beat the same drum.

The strategy to ‘be divided and rule’ by the house of Sharif may not work well over an extended period. People understand the pro-establishment and anti-establishment dramas playing out simultaneously. The masses are not so naïve, and the time to befool the public has long been over

Not anymore.

Since the Supreme Court served notices on them for contempt of court, the duo has been tamed and has been acting responsibly. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi initially reprimanded his ministers Talal Chaudhry and Danyal Aziz for speaking harshly against the judges and even suggested them to offer an apology to judges.

This might have offended his boss, Nawaz Sharif, as later he said on a TV channel that Nawaz Sharif had become the victim of the politicized judiciary. In very careful manners, ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Khwaja Asif and Khwaja Saad Rafiq have also commented on the Supreme Court judgment. Their words, however, neither offended the judges nor made happy their Raiwind leader.

Political pundits, however, have been watching the rhetoric of Mian Nawaz Sharif’s brother Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif since the Panama cases hit the courts. The chief minister, who loves to work closely with bureaucracy and rarely meets media and public representatives, has not uttered even a single word on the judgment or judges’ conduct. In recent rallies in Gujranwala and Pattoki, he focused on his favourite targets — Pakistan People’s Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, who he calls Niazi Sahib or Imran Niazi.

The divide between Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif is wide and visible. People may call it a sign of democracy in a family, where every individual has right to hold their own political views. But the Sharif family hardly exercises democracy in their party — Pakistan Muslim League-N.

It might be a strategy of the family to take two different lines. Nawaz Sharif is acting as the opposition leader, successfully dubbing PPP and PTI pro-establishment parties. On the other hand, Shahbaz Sharif presents himself a neutral leader, who has the utmost respect for the judiciary and the establishment. Though a formal announcement has yet to be made, Shahbaz Sharif is being projected the prime minister candidate from the PML-N.

The strategy to ‘be divided and rule’ by the house of Sharif may not work well for a long time. People understand the pro-establishment and anti-establishment dramas being played simultaneously. People are not so naïve, and the time to befool the public has long been over.

The writer is an investigative journalist who can be reached on twitter @hassannaqvi5

Published in Daily Times, March 18^th 2018.